Apple has had an exciting year with new Macbooks, iPhones, Apple watches, and plenty of new updates to keep their consumers on their toes. Not only has Apple been coming out with new products, they have also been updating their software in order to enhance user experience. Specifically, the updates to the new App store and Safari browser are substantial enough that they are likely to greatly impact your business’ marketing strategy. Here’s what you need to know about Apple’s latest software update that could change the way you market to your consumers:

New App Store

Apple has redesigned the app store for the first time since its initial release in 2008. This update will change businesses optimization strategy by affecting how apps are discovered and downloaded. App names will now be restrained to 30 characters, opposed to the previous 50 character names it was previously restricted to. The new store will also feature apps with more engaging content and highlight the most important information for users to make more informed downloading decisions. This will give app developers and marketers a new way to market their apps focusing on features and usability with the updated product page. Using iOS 11, Apple will provide its own API to add to your app that will allow the user to submit a review within the app, instead of giving customer review prompts in all apps. Apple is also changing the current user experience by making it an easier and more consistent app browsing experience.

The new App store has a cleaner layout with bolder text designed for discovery and will have two entirely different categories: one for Apps, and one for games. The new “Today” view will feature new content on a daily basis so that users can keep up with the latest apps and games. With these new changes to the App store, it is imperative to check your own app to ensure business’ visibility.

Safari Update

Does your business use programmatic ad buys? Watch out, Apple is cracking down on ad tracking through Safari. A programmatic ad buy “describes online display advertising that is aggregated, booked, flighted, analyzed, and optimized via demand-side software interfaces and algorithms”. Apple has updated the Safari browser to prevent third parties from tracking users for 24 hours after a user visited a website and programmatic publishers have taken a hit. This move will hurt advertisers who depend on third-party data to target niche audiences at scale, however, those that sell their inventory directly have not been affected. Gauging the impact of Safari’s tracking change has proven to be difficult because users don’t update their operating systems all at once. One source does indicate that CPM’s are down 15 to 20 percent on Safari since the release of the update.

Advertisers who are heavily reliant on audience targeting will have to shift away from Safari and rely more on Google and Facebook for their niche marketing because both of these search engines promote third-party cookies. Furthermore, this update is expected to lower the cost of advertising on Safari inventory, but raise the price of Google and Explorer inventory. Publishers will have to adapt their marketing strategy to create direct connections with their audiences, and become less reliant on third-party trackers. One way for marketers to do this is to begin obtaining first-party data from their users by creating leads and sign-ups with login information. This might not give the immediate results desired but can create longevity. Marketers need to focus less on targeting, and more on differentiating themselves in the marketplace.

Apple has dominated the technology industry for the past 10 years, with no signs of slowing down. Currently, 50 percent of all U.S. households are home to at least one Apple product. As Apple continues to evolve their software, it is important that we as marketers keep up with their latest updates in order to optimize our own sites and apps for Apple’s large consumer base.